Northridge’s Gray Wins Another One

In Saturday night’s 30-lap Sprint Car feature at Ventura Raceway, Ricky Gray of Northridge grabbed his second victory in four races to bolster his lead in the track points standings.

After taking the lead on the seventh lap when Cal Smith of Montclair slid into the infield coming off of a corner, Gray battled with defending track champion Gary Howard of Ventura.

Howard made the same mistake as Smith on the 20th lap.

“I saw Gary halfway through, when he poked her through on the inside,” Gray said.

Gray stuck to the high groove and Howard failed to catch up even though he regained control before eventual third-place finisher Randy Moody of Ventura motored past.

Gray praised his car’s handling, which has been an issue all year at the quarter-mile clay oval.

“When there’s lapped traffic, the car’s got to work everywhere, and it did,” Gray said. “It worked flawlessly tonight.”

Bill Salzman of Baldwin Park went wire to wire in his 600cc car to win the 20-lap Micro Midget main event, and Randy Miller of Fullerton finished second in a 250cc racer.

Bruce Dorn of Los Angeles won the 20-lap Dwarf Car feature.

Dorn passed Ray Stansberry of Tehachapi--who won the May 6 race at Ventura but was disqualified for failing to appear for a post-race inspection--on the 13th lap. Stansberry promptly spun out, then recovered to finish third behind his son, Tom Stansberry of Bakersfield.